Mr. Jindal, in many ways, are you relieved that you're in the old economy and not in the SaaS business today, sir, and you don't have to deal with some of the issues that Mr. Kotch just spoke of?
No, I'm actually very fortunate that I'm in the brick and mortar industry and I have nothing to do with AI and nothing to do as in my companies. Yes, we use AI and we will increasingly use it, but there is no disruption in my business. So that's the fortune.
No disruption just yet. We don't know what's going to happen. But on the factory floor, what are you seeing? I mean, again, I go back to what we're hearing from tech leaders at this point in time saying that robots are going to take over, humanoids are going to take over, you're going to have factories without people. Do you believe that we're at a point at least as far as Indian factories are concerned of even looking at that possibility?
No. No. For that, I'm very clear that what AI or these new dark factories and stuff like that, robots in the factories, this is only going to improve the productivity of the business and this will only create more economic value in the country and the world, which is today at whatever 100, 110 trillion, probably would become $200 trillion because of what the computers did in the 80s, probably the AI will do now to take it to the next level.
What will happen to the cost of manufacturing when we talk about this ushering in an era or an age of abundance? The question then is what happens to the cost of manufacturing with this big productivity uplift that people are talking about? What will that eventually translate to as far as the consumer is concerned? Do you expect a massive reduction in the cost of manufacturing itself?
No. So if the productivity improves, if there is more value add, then automatically the cost will come down. So it is going to be tremendously beneficial for the consumers for sure, absolutely.
I'll throw the gauntlet your way, Mr. Jindal, as Mr. Kotch pointed out, we need to invest far more on R&D. This has been something that we've spoken of ad nauseam. Why aren't we and what will it take for us to get there?
No. So first point is what they are saying, that we as Indian industry, we are not spending enough money on R&D. That's very clear. I told you just outside the same point that we, because we are living quarter to quarter, that point is also correct.
Is that really the fear holding you back?
Is that really the fear that's holding everybody back?
Not really. Not quarterly, but we are not making enough money to invest in R&D. The industry, Indian, I mean I'm talking generally for most of the industry, we are not making enough money and our shareholders, I mean we certainly want shareholders to be happy. So the environment is such that if we start to make money, then people will say that you're making too much money. So therefore, there is always this dichotomy that we have. But R&D, we have to spend, the industry will have to spend on R&D if we have to, as you said, throw off the colonization on us. We as an industry, we have to grow. A few industries are investing money in R&D, but generally we are not investing enough.
The approach to China, and you've changed your approach to China as well, Mr. Jindal. You're now partnering with Chinese companies to try and bring technology to India to power your electric mobility ambitions. So how should we deal with China at this point in time? Collaborators, competitors, what should the approach be?
So there are two ways. One is that we have to learn from China because my belief is that China is a country which is as large as India, given the population, very similar to India. If we try to learn from Japan or try to learn from Germany, which are relatively smaller countries, we will not be able to really do what we need to do as an economy. We need to learn the way China has expanded. If you look at their bullet train program, I mean, we are for the last 10, 12 years we are building the bullet train which is right in front of my office. I think we are still four, five years away from the first time that bullet train will move. And it happens to be the Prime Minister's pet program, the bullet train, right? So it's a very high-profile program but still we can't execute that program and you go to China you see like thousands and thousands of kilometers of bullet train running across cities. So we have to learn from a country like China which is building the economy at a fraction of the cost of us because we are taking technology from smaller countries and more expensive countries. We have to learn from China. Now how can we collaborate with China? That's a question which is not for me to decide. It's the government has to decide that. But if we have to expand and take our economy to a different level, we have to build bridges with China, we have to take our relationship with China to a different level.
When are we going to see your first car hit the Indian road, sir?
